Rainier Drive (Cedar Cove #6)(28)
“I’m impressed,” Justine said. “You cut Bobby Polgar’s hair.”
People still talked about how she’d appeared at the televised chess match and bullied her way in to see the world-famous chess player. For pride’s sake, she’d made it seem easy; in truth it’d taken a lot of effort.
Her arrival had caused a scene with those unpleasant security people. When they found her scissors, the guards acted as though she was some dangerous lunatic. She’d made such a fuss that Bobby himself had come out to see what she wanted, which was the only reason she’d even had a chance. He’d listened to her assessment that he needed a haircut and agreed to let her do it.
With several bodyguard types following, she’d been escorted in to Bobby Polgar’s suite. When she entered, all kinds of people were milling about, giving him advice and making suggestions about the next chess match with the Russian. The moment Teri stepped into the fray, Bobby had lifted his hand and the room went silent. He’d stared at her, so she stared back. She’d told him to sit down, draped a towel over his shoulders and retrieved her scissors from one of the security people.
“Like I said, your hair is what’s distracting you,” Teri had told him. “You don’t need other people’s advice. You know what you’re doing better than anyone.” In retrospect, it was a bold statement and Teri couldn’t quite understand why she even cared about this man and his silly chess match. All she knew was that she had this compelling urge to go to him and cut his hair. Go figure. She was the impulsive type and…well, it’d worked. Didn’t matter if she couldn’t explain it.
Most everyone wanted to know what Bobby had said to her. This was the confusing part. A few minutes after she showed up, Bobby had asked everyone else to leave, and then it was just the two of them. She wished she had some fantastic story to tell, but she didn’t. She’d simply cut his hair and left. The entire time she was in that room, he probably didn’t say a dozen words to her. Not until she was back in Cedar Cove did she learn that he’d won the next match and the one after that.
“Have you heard from him since?” Justine asked.
Teri arranged the cape over Justine’s shoulders and fastened it. “Me? Nah. I didn’t even tell him my name.”
“He didn’t talk to you?”
“Not really. Nothing I’d consider a conversation, anyway.” In fact, Bobby Polgar hadn’t even bothered to pay her, which was a damn shame since she’d had to borrow twenty bucks to get to Seattle. But then, to be fair, Teri hadn’t asked for payment.
“What’s Bobby like?”
Teri held up a comb as she thought about Justine’s question. All week people had been asking her that and she was never sure what to tell them. “It’s hard to say, seeing he wasn’t all that communicative. He’s intense and…” She wanted to say “peculiar” but that didn’t seem quite right. “Strange,” she finished. “He’s just strange.”
“They say he’s one of the greatest chess minds of our time.”
“He is the greatest chess mind of our time,” Teri corrected. That much she’d garnered from Bobby himself, not to mention his handlers.
“So you’re a fan?”
“Not of Bobby, and not of chess, either. They don’t teach you much about the theory of chess in beauty school, you know?”
“So what interested you in Bobby?” Justine asked as they walked to the shampoo bowl.
“I don’t know,” Teri said slowly. “I saw him on television one morning and thought he was interesting looking. Then he lost that chess match. I knew what was wrong and that I could help him. I do stuff like that. People need something, and I do what I can. My mother’s the same way, God bless her.” Her mother also had a tendency to fall for the wrong guys, another trait Teri was afraid she’d inherited. At least Teri didn’t see any reason to marry them. She’d been through three or four rocky relationships, none of which had lasted more than six months. They’d all ended with her wanting to kick herself for being so stupid. Teri liked to think of herself as savvy and smart; life, however, had a way of proving her wrong.
Teri lowered Justine’s head into the shampoo bowl. Their eyes met, and Teri offered her a quick smile as she turned on the water.
“Thanks, Teri,” Justine said, suddenly intent.
“For what?”
“For not asking about the fire. That’s all anyone ever talks about. I haven’t gone out of the house in weeks, except when it’s absolutely necessary, because every time I do, people bombard me with questions.”
The truth was, Teri had forgotten about the fire. With her own small world spinning around her brief moment of notoriety, the destruction of The Lighthouse had slipped her mind.
“You okay?” Teri asked. One look at Justine said she wasn’t.
Justine didn’t seem to hear and closed her eyes. Teri had discovered that there was something about working on women’s hair that had a relaxing effect on them and led to confidences and disclosures they might make at no other time. Barriers were lowered, and they discussed their lives and problems with surprising openness. Teri was convinced it had to do with her being admitted to their personal space, as well as her undivided focus and the soothing atmosphere at the salon. She sometimes said she should put out a shingle advertising that she did hair with free counseling on the side. She certainly had enough experience to know what not to do when it came to unhealthy relationships.